And people LOVED it; it was SBS' highest-rating program of the last 12 months with 536,000 people tuning in to watch what seemed like endless shots of the Australian outback as seen from the front of the train.

It's Australia's first foray into "slow TV", a movement which has seen channels in Norway and the UK broadcast 10 hours of a crackling log fire and a 134-hour livestream of a ship voyage.

If you didn't get to watch The Ghan, though, don't panic because SBS VICELAND will be airing an epic extended version on Saturday which starts at 2.30am and eventually winds up, in Darwin, at 8.30pm.